Did you know that drivers ages 16-19 have been part of nearly 3,000 fatal car accidents in 2022? In 2020 alone, there had also been 227,000 injury crashes involving teens. You might be wondering why the rate of teen car accidents is high. The truth is there are multiple reasons. This includes teens not being trained enough or not having proper experience, distractions while driving and dangerous driving.

One issue run into quite frequently that causes car accidents is youth not having proper education or knowledge when operating a vehicle. Some teenagers go to a drivers education course, but when it comes time to turn their knowledge into skill, things can get difficult. For example, they may struggle with speed regulation, distance between themselves and other vehicles, running into traffic, or being put into situations where they have to think fast which can throw off their judgement. When I was 17 I was in a car wreck, which happened to be my fault. I was turning left and thought I had enough time to make it to the road on the other side. As it turned out, I was wrong and had a poor judgment of the other driver's speed, which led to me T-boning their vehicle. Thankfully, everyone was okay, but that wreck taught me as a young driver, I need to take a little more time to judge my surroundings. Therefore, teen drivers may cause an abundance of car accidents due to having inexperience and poor judgement.

Another problem that causes car accidents is inattentive teenagers. The main distraction in today's world is cellphones. Teens may receive a message while driving and feel that they immediately have to read it. An additional distraction may be music. Many newer vehicles have bluetooth or an aux cord to play a person's music of choice. So, teens may be trying to pick a different song and cause a mishap while driving. I know I am guilty, and several others, of reading a text because it felt like we couldn't wait an extra ten minutes until we were home to see what our best friend or boyfriend sent to us, when in reality they were probably just saying hey or asking what you're doing. The same goes for music; I have changed the song I was listening to many times while driving and it has almost caused me to get in an accident. There have been a few times I have looked up after taking a couple seconds to view my phone and realized I was in the whole other lane. On that account, cellphones have begun to be a significant cause of car accidents in teenagers.

The last topic I want to focus on is teenagers dangerously driving on the roads. They may have a multitude of reasons to drive risky on the roads, such as wanting to show off for their friends, driving while under the influence, or just overall having too much confidence in their skills. When a teenager gets around their friends sometimes they may feel the need to show off and try to do something cool while cruising backroads or driving on an empty highway. Occasionally, alcohol or other substances may be involved with this as well which is never a good combination. When a person has a mind altering substance in their body, it could cause them to have a high ego and attempt to do unsafe activities in their vehicle like drifting, speeding, running traffic lights, and overall just breaking the law. If a person is under the influence they should call an uber, ask a sober friend to take them home, or stay where they are until they are able to sober up. Yet, some teenagers feel “good to drive”, so they risk it and lots of times end up in a wreck. It is better to be safe rather than sorry and catch a ride with somebody sober rather than hurting yourself or someone else.

When I was 18, I went on a date I had just met and we got dinner and decided to cruise down backroads in his truck. We came up to a curve and he had too much confidence and decided to try to drift the vehicle. He ended up sending us into a four foot ditch. Luckily, the truck was able to drive because I hit my head on the roof and slammed back down into my seat, leaving me with severe back pain. Once he got the truck out of the ditch, I decided I needed to go to the emergency room because of my back pain and it turned out that I had fractured my spine. Since he had made the decision to try to show off, I had a very overwhelming hospital bill and couldn't work for a while. If he would have just kept driving safely the wreck never would have happened and that can typically happen to many other people thinking they can do all sorts of tricks, but just ending up getting hurt or hurting others.

To conclude, there are many reasons why teenagers contribute to many wrecks which includes inexperience, distractions or interferences while driving and dangerous or reckless driving. In order to avoid some of these frequent issues, teenagers can try to relax a little more and focus on their surroundings while driving, keep their phones in the glovebox and put their phone on the “Do Not Disturb” setting, set up their music before driving, and/or resist the urge to impress others. It really is just simple tweaks and changes that could change the outcome of teenage driving and save lives.